Three former Chief Ministers face Lokayukta fire

The special Lokayukta court of Karnataka on Thursday ordered a probe against three former chief ministers, including former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, external affairs minister S.M. Krishna and B.S. Yeddyurappa besides Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) promoter Ashok Kheny for the alleged irregularities in the Bangalore- Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC), developed by NICE.

The special court judge N.K. Sudhindra Rao directed the Lokayukta police to investigate allegations of fraud and corruption against 30 people in a case filed by social activist T.J. Abaraham against the allotment and implementation of the project.

The judge also ordered the attachment of toll collected in the last two years on the NICE road.

External Affairs minister SM Krishna and B.S Yeddyurappa

The court, in its nearly 500- page order, further directed additional director general of police (Lokayukta), H.N. Sathyanarayana Rao, to constitute a wing with no less than four deputy superintendents of police and conduct the probe against the three political bigwigs and 27 others in connection with the alleged irregularities in the NICE project.

HD Devegowda

The police have been directed to file a report by November 27. Abraham had named 103 people in his complaint filed against NICE and its sister concerns alleging illegal grabbing of farm land for the project.

He had alleged that close to 7,000 acres of land acquired for the toll road had violated the law, and adequate compensation was denied to the farmers.

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Of the 103 people accused in the case, the judge ordered probe only against the 30, excluding former Karnataka chief minister N. Dharam Singh.

Others against whom the probe was ordered include former minister R.V. Deshpande, Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar, public works minister C.M. Udasi and industrialist Baba Kalyani.

Abraham had also filed an interlocutory application (IA) along with a main complaint that NICE had failed to complete the two-lane asphalt road before March 2006 as per the agreement, two years from the date of financial closure.

Hence, it had lost legal authority to collect any toll on the road. Reacting to the probe order, a source said: "It is ironical that Deve Gowda's name has figured in the list as he is the man who is fighting the issue of farmers against NICE.

But it may be recalled that it was during Deve Gowda's tenure as chief minister of Karnataka that the NICE project took off and the government started acquiring land to build the infrastructure."